This invention relates to an improved tongue wheel for trailers such as boat trailers, horse trailers and other types of trailers which must be maneuvered by hand after being disconnected from a towing vehicle.
Paved launching ramps have greatly facilated the launching of boats transported over land by trailers towed by automobiles. Nevertheless, there is a need for a type of trailer which may conveniently be maneuvered manually for launching a boat on shore lines where a prepared launching ramp is not available. In many places the nature of the shore line prevents the towing vehicle from backing the trailer down to the water and in many situations the towing vehicle cannot even approach reasonably close to the water line.
Previous attempts to make boat trailers manually maneuverable have not been successful under the conditions encountered on many shorelines where the beach may be quite steep approaching the water level, with loose sand at higher elevations to prevent a close approach by the towing vehicle. Also, the utility of other types of trailers may be greatly extended by making the trailer manually maneuverable into places not accessible to the towing vehicle.
Objects of the present invention are therefore to provide an improved trailer tongue wheel, to provide a tongue wheel which is conveniently steerable, to provide manual braking means for the tongue wheel, to provide a tongue wheel which may be utilized as a jack for lifting the tongue off the trailer hitch on a towing vehicle, to provide a foot or stand for the tongue so that the tongue wheel may be removed when the trailer is disconnected from the towing vehicle, to provide a tongue wheel having a wheel spindle which is available as a replacement for a damaged spindle on the trailer and to provide means for locking the wheel on the tongue to prevent theft of the wheel.